Hella 90 mm headlight conversion

Headlights to tailights and everything in between.

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evolutionmovement
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Post by evolutionmovement »

They're H9s.

Steve
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Post by corsair »

Steve, how does the cleared plastic piece look? Can we get a pic of the whole shebang kinda taped together style?
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evolutionmovement
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Post by evolutionmovement »

The lenses aren't done yet, they still need polishing. They are a huge PITA.

I'm thinking of maybe making duplicate housings with brackets if people are interested and people could dress them up as they want. I could do Impreza housings also, if wanted. I guess I'll see how people react at the Subaru meets.

Steve
Midnight in a Perfect World on Amazon or order anywhere. The first book in a quartet chronicling the rise of a man from angry criminal to philanthropist. Midnight... is a distopic noirish novel featuring 'Duchess', a modified 1990 Subaru Legacy wagon.
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Post by ej22t »

Hi Steve, I am interest on this DIY headlight mod. and would like to have more detail since you did it really well.
Could you take more pics on your prossess and post them up so we will have a guide line to make our own.

Keep up the good work and waiting to see the finishing.

Ben
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evolutionmovement
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Post by evolutionmovement »

I'm not done with them yet. Once I polish the lenses completely I can post the pics of the headlights. The instalation pics will take a little longer. Some minor cutting will be necessary to get them in the car and then I'll have to wire in the new connectors. Weather here sucks really bad, so I have no idea when that end will get done.

I'd easily be able to do mounting assemblies for people and they would come out a little better. How you finish them would be up to you. I could source light housings here or you could send them to me, either way.

I'll try to get a shot of the still-clouded lens on the housing tonight.

Steve
Midnight in a Perfect World on Amazon or order anywhere. The first book in a quartet chronicling the rise of a man from angry criminal to philanthropist. Midnight... is a distopic noirish novel featuring 'Duchess', a modified 1990 Subaru Legacy wagon.
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Post by THAWA »

Have you test fit them on the car yet? Does the opening in the frame need expanding?
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evolutionmovement
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Post by evolutionmovement »

Eye-measuring them, I need to open the hole on the inside of the car behind the headlight a little towards the outside of the car as the low beam is fairly deep. I think the inside piece will be fine. I shouldn't have to relocate anything. And here's the assembly with the lens. Still waiting for the hex-metal to fill in between the lamps. They're still a little cloudy, but almost there.

Image

Image

Steve
Midnight in a Perfect World on Amazon or order anywhere. The first book in a quartet chronicling the rise of a man from angry criminal to philanthropist. Midnight... is a distopic noirish novel featuring 'Duchess', a modified 1990 Subaru Legacy wagon.
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Post by azn2nr »

thats sweet. maybe with something like this i can fix my headlight aim and tighten everytingin up in the front

you should black them out. jdm style
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Post by corsair »

Steve when you say hex metal are you referring to something like this? http://www.mcmaster.com/itm/find.ASP?ta ... g=92725T22

Because I just thought about water damage, or just water getting in the light itself, condensing on the glass, and impeading light output or something like that.

Or, I just realized, are you using the stock rear housing? I didn't think you could with the larger size of those Hellas, unless you're cutting it.
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evolutionmovement
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Post by evolutionmovement »

The stock rear housing is what the beams are mounted to. The lamps themselves are sealed so water won't be an issue. I thought of the condensation issue, but there should be plenty of air able to get in there - better than having it closed off. If I do have an issue, I can glass in the back.

That link doesn't work, but I'm sure it's the sam stuff as that's where I'm getting it from. I am doing the housing black and maybe painting the hex alloy body color, black, or dark grey depending on what I do with the grille. If I do the hex metal in black, I'll set it off a little with a dark grey for the housing behind it.

Another option, if a little ricey, would be to hole saw the lenses for the lamp openings and cover the rest with that carbon fiber sticker stuff.

Steve
Midnight in a Perfect World on Amazon or order anywhere. The first book in a quartet chronicling the rise of a man from angry criminal to philanthropist. Midnight... is a distopic noirish novel featuring 'Duchess', a modified 1990 Subaru Legacy wagon.
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Post by greg donovan »

that CF sticker stuff looks pretty good. for stickers.
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Post by ericS2the6 »

would it be at all possible to move the lamps closer together? i think it would be more aesthetically pleasing, like just move the inner high beam to the outside. looks like you have some room from pics

then i think it would be quite simple if you got a sheet of aluminum or similar and cut somes holes in it and rolled it a bit. you could go crazy with the design, i attached a photoshopped image and a crappy MS PAINT drawing :?
just some ideas.

i think this could come out quite good.

Image

Image

some photoshop fun:
Image
corsair
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Post by corsair »

hey that pretty nice looking, not bad chopping either
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Post by tris91ricer »

*KICKS FEET IN AIR*
ILOVEITILOVEITILOVEIT!
*DONE KICKING*
The rolled aluminum idea is pretty trick, too, although a tad flashy.. but make it optional, and it'd be golden. (pun intended :wink:)
Steve, what's up with the lenses? Are those stock, and then you've scrubbed/sanded 'em so hard they're clear? I must know!
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Post by Kelly »

Oh man, Im so gitty. :)

Fiberglass man!
Cover the lenses with foil. Take grillcloth, or T shirt material, and attach it to the stock housing frame. Push the lenses in the frame mount, and apply resin. When it dries, cut out the holes for the lenses, sand down, and paint whatever color you want. :)

Really easy to do. Ever see how they make "tubs" for sub enclosures?

Wish you live a bit closer.
evolutionmovement
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Post by evolutionmovement »

The lenses are the originals, sanded, sanded, sanded, resanded, and polished.

I aranged the lamps in the positions I did to my preference as I didn't want too much dead space on one end. It would be a great spot to put a blinker in, though. But whatever, the lamps can be arranged anywhere horizontally in relationship to each other. If you want them close together outboard, that can be done.

I'll be showing them off at the Speed & Feed this year and may take orders for making the housings to spec (like if you want the lamps outboard or wherever, I'll do them to your preference). How you cover them will be up to you - fiberglass, cleared lenses, nothing at all, whatever. There are tons of interesting posibilities and I'll leave them up to you. Hell, you can even just change the face of them and leave the housings alone for differnt looks if you really want to go nuts.

I could reproduce the housing mountings pretty cheap and you could just add lamps and whatever personal touches you want after. I can source old headlights locally (probably), so that would save on shipping.

I'm going to try to mount these this weekend, weather permitting.

Steve
Midnight in a Perfect World on Amazon or order anywhere. The first book in a quartet chronicling the rise of a man from angry criminal to philanthropist. Midnight... is a distopic noirish novel featuring 'Duchess', a modified 1990 Subaru Legacy wagon.
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Post by THAWA »

rallitektech wrote:Oh man, Im so gitty. :)

Fiberglass man!
Cover the lenses with foil. Take grillcloth, or T shirt material, and attach it to the stock housing frame. Push the lenses in the frame mount, and apply resin. When it dries, cut out the holes for the lenses, sand down, and paint whatever color you want. :)

Really easy to do. Ever see how they make "tubs" for sub enclosures?

Wish you live a bit closer.
Damn, I'm retarded. I should have done mine that way!
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evolutionmovement
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Post by evolutionmovement »

You could make some tubing out of cardboard or thin alloy and glass that in so that the lamps are set into pockets also.

Steve
Midnight in a Perfect World on Amazon or order anywhere. The first book in a quartet chronicling the rise of a man from angry criminal to philanthropist. Midnight... is a distopic noirish novel featuring 'Duchess', a modified 1990 Subaru Legacy wagon.
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Post by tris91ricer »

Wow. I'm getting another set of headlights and starting on this project.. it'll be so frickin' cool!
I wonder how much different it'd be for post-faces? Am I going to be the first to try?
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Post by brando »

wow those will look f-ing sick!!!
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Post by ej22t »

Now is time for the summer project for everyone.

Its very nice lights.
I love it and would like to make one for myself and post it later..... hopefully before winter. heeehee

Ben
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Post by Project_Legacy »

heheh yea i agree they do look nice. wouldnt it be pretty hard to change bulbs and all that tho? or are the bulbs on those lights easily accessible as stock lights?
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Post by THAWA »

Turn the bulb and pull it out...I think. It's been a while.
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[url=http://folding.amdmbpond.com/FoldingForOurFuture.html]Do you fold?[/url]

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evolutionmovement
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Post by evolutionmovement »

About as easy as the stock bulb.

Steve
Midnight in a Perfect World on Amazon or order anywhere. The first book in a quartet chronicling the rise of a man from angry criminal to philanthropist. Midnight... is a distopic noirish novel featuring 'Duchess', a modified 1990 Subaru Legacy wagon.
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Post by Project_Legacy »

ahhh ic. i thought they were put together like fog lights where they are encased and all that. :)
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